A: Please imagine that I’m a foreign tourist who is visiting Japan for the first time. I’m going to ask you some questions.

Yes.

A: In Japan, people don’t invite their friends over to their homes. Instead, they go to restaurants with their friends. Why? I often invite my friends over to my place.

Japanese people consider their homes or rooms as a private area, and don’t want to invite others to their homes. One reason is that their homes or rooms may be dirty and they don’t want others to see them. Another reason may be that if you go out to restaurants, the wives or mothers do not need to cook for the guests and they can enjoy talking with their friends. But personally, I like to invite my friends over to my place, because it’s a good opportunity for me to clean my house before they come, and I enjoy cooking and chatting with my friends at home.

A: Oh that’s an interesting explanation, I should remember that. Now, next question. I arrived in Japan in October, and noticed that there were many Halloween decorations in Japan. I feel that Japanese people are accustomed to western events like Halloween. What do you think about this trend?

I think more and more Japanese people celebrate western holidays. The biggest western holiday we celebrate in Japan is Christmas. And more and more people are now enjoying Halloween. However, department stores and other shops usually put up decorations for these events. This is commercialism. Department stores and other shops take advantage of Christmas and Halloween to promote and increase their sales. These are good opportunities for them to increase sales.

A: OK. Now, next question. I have heard of gagaku, but I don’t know anything about it. What is gagaku?

I’m not very familiar with gagaku, but gagaku is a musical performance for the imperial family. The imperial family owns a special orchestra for gagaku. In gagaku performances, very unique musical instruments are played. Gagaku music has not been very popular compared to other types of music such as classical music or pop music. However, it is becoming popular. This is because of Mr. Hideki Togi, a famous gagaku player who started playing gagaku for the general public. I think he is a son of a member of the imperial gagaku orchestra, and he made gagaku performances for the general public.

（ショウ（漢字不明）など、楽器の名前を付け加えればよかった。）

A. It’s interesting. I would like to go to a gagaku concert. How can I get a ticket?

To get a ticket, you can check the Pia magazine, the ticket information magazine. I believe Mr. Togi gives concerts on a regular basis.